xAI to pay telegram $300M to integrate Grok into the chat app

Post by machomaster » Wed, May 28, 2025, 7:01 PM UTC

sorokod wrote: post #179

kklisura wrote: post #116

> Telegram is the most popular messaging app in Iran and Uzbekistan [1] > Telegram’s largest market is India, which accounts for more than 20% of its userbase. Telegram also has a large amount of users in countries with heavy censorship and surveillance, such as Iran, Russia, and Uzbekistan. [1] > Percentage of users via region: Asia 38%, Europe 27%, Latin America 21%, MEMA 8% [1] It sure is valuable data - if you ar…

> Telegram also has a large amount of users in countries with heavy censorship and surveillance That citizens of those countries are allowed to use Telegram says something about the privacy it affords to them.

Post by machomaster » Wed, May 28, 2025, 7:05 PM UTC

Suppafly wrote: post #172

lawrencejgd wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can change that in Settings → Privacy and security → Invitations → Select My contacts

>You can change that in Settings → Privacy and security → Invitations → Select My contacts Bizarre that that's not the default and that it's actually an option at all.

Post by ben_w » Wed, May 28, 2025, 7:09 PM UTC

game_the0ry wrote: post #103

Call me stupid, but I fundamentally do not grasp why xAI would pay Telegram for access to its users. $300M seems like a crazy amount of money to put into a chat app. I am genuinely curious about the business strategy behind the move bc that would be a market worth exploring - having something that the AI industry would pay for bc they are willing to spend a lot right now.

Post by s900mhz » Wed, May 28, 2025, 7:11 PM UTC

spacebanana7 wrote: post #204

eqvinox wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google pays Apple because Google has paying customers for that in their advertisers. For xAI to pay Telegram... where does xAI get value back out of that? I guess we'll be seeing AI with ads soon?

That’s the industry consensus. Sam Altman talked about something similar on a Stratechery podcast. It not exactly unrealistic to imagine that people will ask LLMs about flights, hotels, restaurants or even insurance. All that needs to happen is for LLMs to add a “buy now” button, and for the provider to take a 15% commission (still a lower take rate than Expedia FWIW).

Post by wltr » Wed, May 28, 2025, 7:13 PM UTC

alterom wrote: post #178

Suppafly wrote: post #171

If this is something their users actually wanted, they'd be paying xAI, not the other way around.

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